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Five notorious World Cup episodes

June 25, 2014

Paris, Jun 25: Uruguay striker Luis Suarez once again hogged the limelight for the wrong reason over an alleged biting incident involving Italian Giorgio Chiellini in their final group game.Luis Suarez fight

Battle of Berne

Brazil were at the centre of a notorious brawl in Switzerland in 1954, when their quarter-final against Hungary became immortalised as the "Battle of Berne."

The result, a 4-2 victory for Hungary, has become a footnote of a match which is a strong contender for the dirtiest game in World Cup history.

The match was marred by three sendings off and several mass brawls, and was interrupted by several invasions from Brazilian officials and media.

Schumacher's night of shame

To say that German goalkeeper Harald 'Toni' Schumacher left an indelible imprint on the 1982 tournament would be an understatement.

The curly-haired netminder became a hate figure in the 58th minute of the semi-final with France with the match level at 1-1 substitute Patrick Battiston had just shot at goal only for Schumacher to charge and elbow him deliberately in the head.

Battiston slumped unconscious to the ground and required minutes of treatment.

Battiston was stretchered off the pitch accompanied by his close friend Michel Platini. He suffered three broken teeth and a damaged vertebra.

"Tell him I'll pay for the crowns," was Schumacher's unrepentant response after the match.

'Hand of God' strikes down the land of 'God Save the Queen'

The 1986 World Cup was all about Diego Maradona, the very good and the very bad side of him. Both were seen in the quarter-final against England, the very good being his extraordinary individual goal that put them 2-0 up in a game they would win 2-1.

However, his first goal is equally as famous but for all the wrong reasons as somehow he managed to beat the far taller England goalkeeper Peter Shilton in the air and the ball went into the net.

Rijkaard and Voller spit spat

Matches between Germany and the Netherlands were always high-octane affairs dating back to the brutal Nazi Occupation during World War II.

This last 16 game in the 1990 finals was no exception as Dutch defender Frank Rijkaard and German striker Rudi Voller two of the most respected players at the time enjoyed their moment of notoriety.

Tempers boiled over early on with Rijkaard being booked for a foul on Voller, the Dutchman reacting by spitting at the back of the perm-haired striker's head.

Zidane loses his head

Zinedine Zidane was seen as a role model and an icon in France.

The 2006 World Cup final appeared to be the ideal setting for perhaps their greatest ever player to bid farewell and perhaps add a second World Cup to the one he had won in 1998.

All started well with him opening the scoring but Marco Materazzi levelled and an increasingly fractious game went into extra-time.

Materazzi an old style hardman central defender with a penchant for provoking opponents with foul comments finally 'scored' his second goal when Zidane unable to take any more of his remarks about his sister headbutted him in the chest 10 minutes from the end of extra-time.

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News Network
April 22,2020

Dhaka, Apr 22: Star Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has decided to auction the bat he used during the 2019 ODI World Cup to help raise money for the fight against deadly coronavirus pandemic.

Shakib, who is currently serving a two-year ban from all forms of cricket -- one of which is suspended -- for not reporting corrupt approaches, is the second Bangladeshi cricketer after wicket-keeper batsman Mushfiqur Rahim to auction a personal cricketing gear to raise money for the cause.

"I had said before that I want to put up a bat for auction. I have decided to auction the bat I used in the 2019 World Cup. It's a favourite bat of mine," Shakib said during a Facebook live session.

The 33-year-old all-rounder had a hugely successful World Cup in England last year, scoring 606 runs in eight matches at an average of 86.57, which included two centuries and five fifties.

Besides, he also picked up 11 wickets in the tournament and became the only cricketer to score 600 plus runs and scalp 10 wickets in a single edition of the World Cup.

"I had a good World cup with the bat and ball. There were some good performances especially with the bat. I had used a single bat throughout the World Cup and even used tapes on it to get through games," Shakib said.

"It's not that this bat has only been used at the World Cup. I have scored over 1500 runs with this bat and had used it prior to the tournament and after it as well.

"Although I like the bat a lot but I have decided to put it up for auction with the thought that maybe it can leave some contribution to forming a fund during the ongoing coronavirus crisis."

The money raised from the auction will go to the Shakib Al Hasan foundation.

"This is a very special bat to me, but my people are even more special to me," Shakib said.

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Agencies
August 1,2020

Bengaluru, Aug 1: Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are aiming to set up their preparatory camp for the 13th edition of the tournament from early August.

This year's IPL was slated to commence from March 29 but the tournament was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Recently, the IPL Governing Council chairman Brijesh Patel had confirmed that the 13th edition of the mega event will commence on September 19 in the UAE.

As per a report in ESPNcricinfo, CSK players have been asked to report to Chennai first, following which they will leave for Dubai via a charter flight only after approval from the Indian government.

The IPL Governing Council will meet on August 2 to finalise the schedule and other key arrangements for the tournament. Also, the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) around securing eight teams for 51 days across three venues will be formally established in that meeting.

CSK, who has the oldest squad in the IPL, are looking for a month's preparation before ahead of the tournament.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, the side was the first team to start their training camp in March. Senior players like Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu had begun training their training in December 2019.

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News Network
May 15,2020

New Delhi, May 15: Former England skipper David Gower feels Sourav Ganguly has the right "political skills" to lead the ICC one day and he has already displayed that as BCCI president, which is a "far tougher job".

The elegant left-hander is very impressed with Ganguly's leadership abilities and believes that he has what it takes to head the global body in the future.

"One thing I have learnt over the years is that if you are going to run BCCI, you need to be many, many things. Having a reputation like he (Ganguly) has is a very good start, but you need to be a very deft politician.

"You need to have control of a million different things," Gower said ahead of "Q20", a unique chat show for the fans presented by 'GloFans'.

Gower reckons being president of the BCCI is the toughest job imaginable in world cricket.

"And of course, you need to be responsible for a game that is followed by, I mean, should we say a billion people here in India," he said.

"We all know about the immense following for cricket in India. So it is indeed a wonderful thing to behold. Sourav has the toughest task imaginable in charge of BCCI, but so far I would say the signs are very good.

"He has listened, given his own opinion and has pulled strings gently," he said.

Political skills are a must in administration and that's where Gower finds his fellow left-hander ticking all the boxes.

"He is a very, very good man and has those political skills. He has the right attitude and can keep things together and will do good job. And if you do a good job as BCCI chief in the future, who knows?

"But I would actually say the more important job, to be honest, is running BCCI. Being head of ICC is an honour, there is a lot that can be done by ICC, but actually look at the rankings, look at where the power is heading up. BCCI is definitely the bigger job," he said.

On the cricketing front, Gower believes World Test Championship has given the format much-needed context.

"The idea of this World Test Championship has come about for one very simple reason that people are worried about the survival of Tests. Back in the seventies, eighties, I don't think we needed context to be fair.

"Test cricket was very much more obviously the most important format and if there was anything to be judged by, it was the performances in Test matches both as an individual and as a team.

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